When a California woman called Otis House Museum curator Ann Durel to gather information about her family roots, little did she know she would be the one contributing so much to our local history.

Darlene Machado of California was planning a trip to the Otis House located east of the Tchefuncte River bridge on Louisiana 22, to find out what she could about her great great grandfather, William Theodore Jay. Her interest was sparked by an old trunk that was shipped by Jay one hundred years ago to his son Clifton.

The trunk was eventually passed down to Machado’s mother. It was filled with engraved silverware, memento’s and lots of old pictures of the home, the park grounds and rare photos of Jay’s Saw Mill and Dummyline steam engines.

William Jay built the beautiful house as a “starter home” for his wife Lavinia. He ran a saw mill that operated on the Tchefuncte River. In 1906, Jay sold the home and saw mill to the Houlton brothers and moved the family to an even grandeur home on St Charles Avenue in New Orleans. The area became Houtonville which included Johnson and Houlton store, a post office and over 250 sawmill workers.

It was a thrill for Durel who has spent many years overseeing restoration projects, protecting artifacts, researching and caring for the home.

“When I got the phone call from Darlene, I was so excited. As she described the pictures, it made me so anxious to see them. Finally she snapped pictures of the pictures and sent them to me. As I opened each one on the computer, I knew I had to have these. I was in awe.” Durel said.

She offered to take the photos to a photo shop near her home and we stayed in touch for months. The prints were sent to Durel and volunteer Jack Terry made beautiful handmade wooden frames for them.

Earlier this year, Machado and her son Travis made the trip down to meet Durel and visit her great great grandparents home. She presented Durel with silver engraved silverware set that belonged to Jay.

“She toured the house and then she walked around the grounds for a long time just taking it all in. I can just imagine how she must have felt.” Durel said. “We are so thrilled the pictures made their way back.

The photos are now on display at the Otis House at 119 Fairway Drive. The home is open Tues. through Sat. from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. There is a gate admission fee to the park of $1 per person. Adults over 62 and children under 3 are free. Tours of the Otis house are given on the hour. Cost of the home tour is $4 per person. Children 12 and under and adults 62 and over are admitted free of charge. For more information or to schedule group tours, call 985.792.4652 or go to the park website.